The life and times of a pituitary Cushing's survivor (1987) AND a kidney cancer (Renal Cell Carcinoma) survivor (2006). I must be a Super-Woman...NOT!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Day Seventeen, Cushing's Awareness Challenge

Way back when we first got married, my husband thought we might have a lot of kids. He was from a family of 6 siblings, so that's what he was accustomed to. I am on only child so I wasn't sure about having so many.

I needn't have worried.

In January, 1974 I had a miscarriage. I was devastated. My father revealed that my mother had also had a miscarriage. I had no idea.

At some point after this I tried fertility drugs. Clomid and another drug. One or both drugs made me very angry/depressed/bitchy (one dwarves I left off the image) Little did I know that these meds were a waste of time.

Eventually, I did get pregnant and my wonderful son, Michael was born. It wasn't until he was seven that I was finally, actually diagnosed with Cushing's.

When I had my early Cushing's symptoms, I thought I was pregnant again but it was not to be.

I'll never forget the fall when he was in second grade. He was leaving for school and I said good bye to him. I knew I was going into NIH that day for at least 6 weeks and my future was very iffy. He just turned and headed off with his friends...and I felt a little betrayed.

Michael wrote this paper on Cushing's when he was in the 7th grade. From the quality of the pages, he typed this on typing paper - no computers yet!

Click on each page to enlarge.

When Michael started having headache issues in middle school, I had him tested for Cushings. I had no idea yet if it could be familial but I wasn't taking any chances. It turned out that my father had also had some unnamed endocrine issues. Hmmm...

I survived my time and surgery at NIH and Michael grew up to be a wonderful young man, if an only child. :)

After I survived kidney cancer (see the post from April 12) Michael and I went zip-lining - a goal of mine after surviving that surgery. This was taken in a treetop restaurant in Belize.

For the mathematically inclined, this is his blog. Xor's Hammer. I understand none of it.

About Me

I am a Cushing's patient who has dealt with Cushing's symptoms since 1983 (or earlier) and the aftereffects of pituitary surgery since 1987.

Because I had very little support for my symptoms, diagnosis and surgery, I decided to try to make things a little better for other patients and started a support site called Cushing's Help and Support in 2000. The site has grown to astronomical numbers. This disease isn't as rare as doctors have told us!

In 2006, I was also diagnosed with kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma). My left kidney and adrenal gland were removed. Having an adrenal gland removed complicates my post-Cushing's symptoms.